River: A Maximum Ride Novel
by samfroh33
Summary: River was left at the School when Jeb moved out with the Flock. Now she's finally escaped, and River has a flock of her own. The two flocks meet, but will the two personalities of the leaders collide and cause chaos?
1. Prologue

River

**Prologue**

"If you're reading this book, it's probably too late." Great quote, right? I got it from my all time favorite book 'Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment'. By the way, that story is all true. I'm River, and I'm not here to give you a lecture about global warming. If I was, I'd be a teacher, not a flying mutant bird kid. Yeah, I have wings, now shut up and let me finish. So yeah, I know global warming is important an all, what with the Earth being destroyed and stuff like that, but who wants to hear about that all day long? Right, me neither. So I'm going to give you a story full of kick butt action and mushy gushy romance. You're in for the ride of a life time.


	2. Chapter 1

**River's POV**

_ Snap! _I spun around into a flying roundhouse kick, landing it at the base of a Flyboy's neck. _Crack!_ And . . . his head flew off. I'm not going to go into the gross details. My flock and I had recently escaped from the all powerful _New School_. (a little bit of sarcasm there for ya) I thought we'd done a pretty good job of hiding our tracks, but somehow the mutant/robot army had found us. Again. They just couldn't take a hint, after all the times we had kicked their butts before!

Anyway, we we're in the middle of another bloody battle. I glanced around when I got a break. Dead Erasers and pieces of Flyboys littered the ground, and no one seemed to be seriously hurt. A few scrapes, bruises, a black eye here, a broken nose there. No biggy. And the others were doing what they do best; destroying things.

I guess I should introduce the rest of my flock. I'm fourteen, Jubilee is eleven, and Roxanne is five. Nothing special, just three kids on the run. Except we have wings. Pretty cool, huh? And I suppose you're going to ask if we can fly. Well no duh! Why else would we have wings? It's not like we wear them for a fashion show. Although I do have an incredible fashion sense.

A couple minutes later all that was left of the 80 Flyboys and Erasers was a couple of sizzling wires and bits of metal sticking out of the ground. Plus the whole dead people thing. I spread my black streaked with blue wings, getting ready for takeoff.

"Up and away guys," I told my flock as the rest of them spread out their wings. "It's time to find Max."


	3. Chapter 2

**Max's POV**

"I just love desert rat shish-ka-bob, don't you?" Total complained sarcastically. He groaned and laid his head on his paws. Yeah, he's got paws, because what would a dog be without paws? Even if they talk. Total's a talking dog, now get over it.

"France had much better food," he sighed. Why does everyone complain? See, this is why Total isn't the leader. Because we'd be in France every other friggin' day, instead of lying low and trying not to be spotted, that's why! But lying low never works.

_ Crash! _I jumped up, thinking over battle strategies, my hands already curling into fists. Whatever was out there was about to get squashed, Max-Kwan-Do style.

I tensed up, noticing Fang shift into battle mode, his face set like stone. The others quickly stepped into a line, ready to fight. With silent agreement Fang and I crept forward towards the noise, listening intently for any signs of attack.

"Great, now they're going to come and kill us," a quiet voice whispered. "You just had to fall out of a tree, didn't you? I mean, what bird kid, who practically lives in trees, falls out of one?" Wait, time out, bird kids? Since when were there more kids like us?

"Uh, River?" another voice asked, sort of like Angel's.

"Yeah, sweetie? Is something wrong?"

"They're already here." With that, three kids stepped out from outside the circle of trees the flock and I were sleeping in. They're wings were outstretched, and the one in front with black and blue wings looked like the leader.

She spoke, "You must be Max," and stuck out her grimy hand. Not unlike our own. "I'm River, and we're going to travel with you." Woooh, hold on a sec. Who said anything about joining the flock? But it looked like they were pretty determined, whoever they were. And pushy. Girl after my own heart. I like her already.


	4. Chapter 3

**River's POV**

When we first met Max, they looked pretty surprised to find others like them. But of course I know this for sure, because Roxy said so. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, but Roxanne can read minds. Not your common five year old skill.

We slept on the ground that night, while Max's flock slept in the trees. I guess we weren't exactly welcome yet. I mean, what did you expect? A surprise party?

Anyway, the next day I told everything about us. Battles, escaping from the New School, everything.

"You're fighting skills seem to be up to date," she commented after I finished a quick summary of our "tour of America". "We're heading over to my mom's today, and we'll do some training there. I guess you can come with us if you want." She glanced over at Fang, and I followed her gaze. He looked grim, but Max said he normally acted like that. I could tell that they totally liked each other. I didn't even have to ask Roxy, who was, by the way, already best friends with Angel, the youngest in Max's flock. They were over in a tree, giggling as they whispered about what everyone was thinking. In case you didn't know, Angel reads minds too. Geez, now there was no privacy what so ever. Not that there was much in the first place.

At about noon, just before we were about to head out, two other kids stepped in to the clearing. I guessed this must be Gazzy and Iggy. I hadn't noticed them when we arrived last night.

"Max," Gazzy yelled, running over to her. "Guess what Iggy and I found out? You know those weird pinecones out there? Well, if you light them with a match-"

"They explode," Jubilee finished. Juby has a slight problem. She likes to blow things up. And I think Gazzy and Iggy did too. "I found that out last night when I dropped a match onto them accidently. It was totally awesome!"

They both turned, noticing my flock for the first time. But Iggy didn't seem to be able to focus on us exactly. Wait, was he . . . blind? Max must have said something about it early, but I must not have been paying attention.

Gazzy rushed over to Juby, immediately interested, boyish excitement lightening up his face. "You like to blow stuff up too? We'll be the best of the pyro world!" He cackled and they got into a disagreement about the best things to use in a homemade bomb. Oh bother!

Iggy came over and sat next to Max. She introduced me to him, and I noticed him for the first time. Yeah, I know I said that earlier, but I mean really noticed him. Like, OMG he's totally hot, noticed him. His blonde hair was spiked up all over the place, and his blue eyes looked straight into mine. Okay, about two centimeters above my eyes, but still. Max, noticing something going on, got up and went to sit with Fang. They talked softly with each other, while Iggy scooted closer to me. I let him feel my hand and shirt, so he could get the color and tell the difference between me and Max. I have to say, we do look a lot alike. Coincidently.

"Baby blue shirt, black hoodie," he whispered to himself, his hand trailing down my arm and across my back. "Deep tan skin, black and blue wings." I skittered away, way to nervous to stand any more of it. "Sorry," he smiled, apologetically. "I didn't mean to make you nervous. I tend to do that with everyone so I can tell them apart." I just sat there, a tingly feeling on my back where Iggy's hand had been, wondering what this new feeling was, and wondering when it would go away. I just hate mushy emotions. Crying, being mad, I'm not even that good with being really happy. Shows you what DNA mutation does to a girl.


	5. Chapter 4

**Max POV**

That afternoon we all took off and headed for my mom, Dr. Martinez's house.

"Max, I'm sooooo excited to see Ella again! We can talk about fashion, and magazines, and boys . . ." Yep, that was my Nudge all right, chattering away. Nudge was flying just ahead of me with Juby talking about the latest fashions in magazines, River and Iggy were up front whispering quietly to each other, Angel, Roxy, and Gazzy were flying below me, laughing about who knows what, and Fang, Mr. I don't talk much, brought up the rear.

He flew up beside me, his beautiful, powerful wings glistening in the sun.

God, what has gotten into me lately? It's like I'm turning into Shakespeare! If Shakespeare were a mutant bird kid that is.

Anyway, he glided next to me, saying nothing for a few minutes.

"Max, I don't think bringing these others kids along is such a good idea."

"Why? And River isn't exactly a kid. She's as old as you and me."

"Remember, back in Hawaii, our night out in Honolulu, when you said your circle was getting to big? Don't you think there are too many people in your circle now?"

"What's the point," I sighed, hating every minute of this conversation. "Everyone knows about us because of the air shows. And I feel bad for them. Remember what it was like just after we escaped?" I could tell he was thinking about it, and I knew I had persuaded him in my favor. "Besides, I kinda like River. She's a lot like me." Smart, fast, brave, and not to mention a kick butt warrior from what we'd heard of they're adventures. Although they could be fake . . . but I doubt it.

"Fine, but I get to test their battle skills, because you'll get soft hearted again."

"Hey," I said, punching him in the arm, laughing. "I do not get soft hearted." He smirked, the Fang version of uncontrollable laughter, and glided past me to hang up front with Iggy and River.

**River POV**

We arrived at Max's mom's house shortly after sunset.

"Mom," Max called as soon as she landed. A Spanish-ish lady with really nice hair stepped out of the house and hugged her. Then my very worst enemy stepped out of the house. I narrowed my eyes.

"Guys," Max started. "This is-"

"Jeb," I finished. "The last person I wanted to see today." My hands balled up into fists and I backed up towards Roxy, and Juby, to protect them if anything happened.

"River, Jubilee, Roxanne," Jeb said coolly, nodding towards each of us. Max just looked back and forth, bewildered.

"You- you guys know each other? How?" I just stood there, glaring at him, daring him to step towards us, because if he did . . . . .

He walked towards a red car parked in the drive way, not saying anything. Without a backwards glanced he hopped into the car and took off. Thank God!

Luckily, Max didn't ask any questions. I didn't feel like telling her the whole story of how Jeb had been my personal "tester". He was more like a torturer.

Later that day, after introductions and a delicious dinner of pizza (um, um, good) Max told us that Fang would bring us up to speed on our fighting skills.

"Excuse me?" I said after she told us this. "Who says we don't have good enough fighting skills already? I can judge my own flock, thank you very much. And I say we fight just fine." She stood up and came over to right in front of where I was leaning against the wall, watching for trouble. Slowly everyone else left the room, tiptoeing. Except Fang and Dr. Martinez that is.

"What did you just say?"

"Max," Dr. Martinez pleaded. "Please don't start another fight. I don't want anyone to get hurt." Fang didn't say anything, of course. He was like, Mr. Silent Guy, or something like that. What did Max see in him? Now Iggy on the other hand . . .

"If you want to join my flock, you're going to have to listen to me. Got it?"

"What if I don't want to? Then what?" As you can see, I have a _slight_ problem about people telling me what to do.

_ Wham! _A fist slammed into my gut, knocking out my breath. Oh she asked for it now! I immediately shifted into battle mode, standing on my toes, ready for her next move. She advanced and threw in a roundhouse kick. I ducked, and quickly kicked her in the ribs, then backed up out of harm's way again. We went like this for several minutes, with no one getting seriously hurt; until she threw me against the wall, her brown-blonde hair wild. I slumped on the ground, pretending to be defeated, but with another trick up my sleeve. She towered over me, a foot on my chest.

"You were saying?" God she had an attitude. Then again, so do I.

With a sudden burst of will power I threw her off of me, and held her in midair. Without my hands. You see, I have this awesome talent where I can move things with my mind. I think it called telekinesis. So there Max was, thrashing around in the air. And I gotta say, it was pretty dang funny. Not that I'm a bully or anything, because they're mean. Even though they have pretty cool tricks. Not that I'd ever try them.

Oh, forget what I just said, it doesn't make any sense.

Anyway, she calmed down eventually, and ordered me to put her down. What doesn't she get about the 'You can't boss me around' thing that just started this whole fight? When I wouldn't put her down, Fang calmly walked over to me, a weird look in his eyes. I guess I was supposed to be afraid or something, but it didn't work.

"Put her down," he said menacingly, sort of growling. But I just picked him up too and put him next to Max in the air. But then I realized what I'd done. I'd just beat up, and harassed my new family! Oh this was not good. Why couldn't I control my temper? Silently I set them on the floor, and ran out the door into the night without a backwards glance, tears streaming down my face.


End file.
